The Theory of the Rainbow

When sunlight is scattered by raindrops, why is it that colorful

arcs appear in certain regions of the sky? Answering this subtle
question has required all the resources of mathematical physics

by H. Moyses Nussenzveig

he rainbow is a bridge between the

two cultures: poets and scientists
alike have long been challenged to
describe it. The scientific description is
often supposed to be a simple problem
in geometrical optics, a problem that
was solved long ago and that holds inter
est today only as a historical exercise.
This is not so: a satisfactory quantitative
theory of the rainbow has been devel
oped only in the past few years. More
over, that theory involves much more
than geometrical optics; it draws on all
we know of the nature of light. Allow
ance must be made for wavelike proper
ties, such as interference, diffraction and
polarization, and for particlelike prop
erties, such as the momentum carried by
a beam of light.
Some of the most powerful tools of
mathematical physics were devised ex
plicitly to deal with the problem of the
rainbow and with closely related prob
lems. Indeed, the rainbow has served as
a touchstone for testing theories of op
tics. With the more successful of those
theories it is now possible to describe the
rainbow mathematically, that is, to pre
dict the distribution of light in the sky.
The same methods can also be applied
to related phenomena, such as the bright
ring of color called the glory, and even
to other kinds of rainbows, such as
atomic and nuclear ones.
Scientific insight has not always been
welcomed without reservations. Goethe
wrote that Newton's analysis of the rain
bow's colors would "cripple Nature's
heart. " A similar sentiment was ex
pressed by Charles Lamb and John
Keats; at a dinner party in 1817 they
proposed a toast: "Newton's health. and
confusion to mathematics. " Yet the sci
entists who have contributed to the the
ory of the rainbow are by no means in
sensitive to the rainbow's beauty. In the
words of Descartes: "The rainbow is
such a remarkable marvel of Nature
. . . that I could hardly choose a more
suitable example for the application of
my method. "
The single bright arc seen after a rain
shower or in the spray of a waterfall is

the primary rainbow. Certainly its most

conspicuous feature is its splash of col
ors. These vary a good deal in brightness
and distinctness, but they always follow
the same sequence: violet is innermost.
blending gradually with various shades
of blue. green, yellow and orange, with
red outermost.
Other features of the rainbow are
fainter and indeed are not always pres
ent. Higher in the sky than the primary
bow is the secondary one, in which the
colors appear in reverse order, with red
innermost and violet outermost. Careful
observation reveals that the region be
tween the two bows is considerably
darker than the surrounding sky. Even
when the secondary bow is not discern
ible, the primary bow can be seen to
have a "lighted side" and a "dark side. "
The dark region has been given the
name Alexander's dark band, after the
Greek philosopher Alexander of Aph
rodisias, who first described it in about
200.
Another feature that is only some
times seen is a series of faint bands, usu
ally pink and green alternately, on the
inner side of the primary bow. (Even
more rarely they may appear on the out
er side of the secondary bow . ) These
"supernumerary arcs" are usually seen
most clearly near the top of the bow.
They are anything but conspicuous. but
they have had a major influence on the
development of theories of the rainbow.

A.D.

he first attempt to rationally explain

T the
appearance of the rainbow was

probably that of Aristotle. He proposed

that the rainbow is actually an unusual
kind of reflection of sunlight from
clouds. The light is reflected at a fixed
angle. giving rise to a circular cone
of "rainbow rays. " Aristotle thus ex
plained correctly the circular shape of
the bow and perceived that it is not a
material object with a definite location
in the sky but rather a set of directions
along which light is strongly scattered
into the eyes of the observer.
The angle formed by the rainbow rays
and the incident sunlight was first mea-

16
1977 SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN, INC

sured in 1266 by Roger Bacon. He mea

sured an angle of about 42 degrees; the
secondary bow is about eight degrees
higher in the sky. Today these angles are
customarily measured from the oppo
site direction, so that we measure the
total change in the direction of the sun's
rays. The angle of the primary bow is
therefore 180 minus 42, or 138, degrees;
this is called the rainbow angle. The an
gle of the secondary bow is 130 degrees.
After Aristotle's conjecture some 17
centuries passed before further signifi
cant progress was made in the theory of
the rainbow. In 1304 the German monk
Theodoric of Freiberg rejected Aristot
le's hypothesis that the rainbow results
from collective reflection by the rain
drops in a cloud. He suggested instead
that each drop is individually capable of
producing a rainbow. Moreover, he test
ed this conjecture in experiments with a
magnified raindrop: a spherical flask
filled with water. He was able to trace
the path followed by the light rays that
make up the rainbow.
Theodoric's findings remained largely
unknown for three centuries, until they
were independently rediscovered by
Descartes, who employed the same
method. Both Theodoric and Descartes
showed that the rainbow is made up of
rays that enter a droplet and are reflect
ed once from the inner surface. The sec
ondary bow consists of rays that have
undergone two internal reflections.
With each reflection some light is lost,
which is the main reason the secondary
bow is fainter than the primary one.
Theodoric and Descartes also noted that
along each direction within the angular

DOUBLE RAINBOW was photographed at

Johnstone Strait in British Columbia. The
bright, inner band is the primary bow; it is
separated from the fainter secondary bow by
a region, called Alexander'S dark band, that
is noticeably darker than the surrounding sky.
Below the primary bow are a few faint stripes
of pink and green; they are supernumerary
arcs. The task of theory is to give a quanti
tative explanation for each of these features.

 1977 SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN, INC

!""' - -"""
LIGHTED
"I
----------------+_------ SIDE

__________ ______

______

------------,

----------------+_------c=__, SECONDARY
RAINBOW

__________

ALEXANDER'S
DARK BAND

z-----------------------------------------_, PRIMARY
==================:============ =====:
:= RAINBOW
SUPERNUMERARY
ARCS
v.

RAIN
GEOMETRY OF THE RAINBOW is determitted by the scattering angle: the total angle
through which a ray of sunlight is bent by its passage through a raindrop. Rays are strongly
scattered at angles of 138 degrees and 130 degrees, giving rise respectively to the primary and
the secondary rainbows. Between those angles very little light is deflected; that is the region of
Alexander's dark band. The optimum angles are slightly different for each wavelength of light,
with the result that the colors are dispersed; note that the sequence of colors in the secondary
bow is the reverse of that in the primary bow. There is no single plane in which the rainbow lies;
the rainbow is merely the set of directions along which light is scattered toward the observer.

range corresponding to the rainbow

only one color at a time could be seen in
the light scattered by the globe. When
the eye was moved to a new position so
as to explore other scattering angles. the
other spectral colors appeared. one by
one. Theodoric and Descartes conclud-

REFLECTION

AN

droplet. The fundamental principles

that determine the nature of the bow are
those that govern the interaction of light
with transparent media. namely reflec
tion and refraction.
The law of reflection is the familiar
and intuitively obvious principle that
the angle of reflection must equal the
angle of incidence. The law of refraction
is somewhat more complicated. Where
as the path of a reflected ray is deter
mined entirely by geometry. refraction
also involves the properties of light and
the properties of the medium.
The speed of light in a vacuum is in
variant; indeed. it is one of the funda
mental constants of nature. The speed
of light in a material medium. on the
other hand. is determined by the proper
ties of the medium. The ratio of the
speed of light in a vacuum to the speed
in a substance is called the refractive
index of that substance. For air the in
dex is only slightly greater than 1; for
water it is about 1.33.
A ray of light passing from air into
water is retarded at the boundary; if it
strikes the surface obliquely. the change
in speed results in a change in direction.
The sines of the angles of incidence and
refraction are always in constant ratio to
each other. and the ratio is equal to that
between the refractive indexes for the
two materials. This equality is called
Snell's law. after Willebrord Snell. who
formulated it in 1621.

ed that each of the colors in the rainbow

comes to the eye from a different set of
water droplets.
As Theodoric and Descartes realized.
all the main features of the rainbow can
be understood through a consideration
of the light passing through a single

D REFRACTION of light at boundaries between

air

and water are the

basic events in the creation of a rainbow. In reflection the angle of incidence is equal to the
angle of reflection. In refraction the angle of the transmitted ray is determined by the properties
of the medium, as characterized by its refractive index. Light entering a medium with a higher
index is bent toward the normal. Light of different wavelengths is refracted through slightly
different angles; this dependence of the refractive index on color is called dispersion. Theories
of the rainbow often deal separately with each monochromatic component of incident light.

18
1977 SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN, INC

analysis of the rainbow

A preliminary
can be obtained by applying the

laws of reflection and refraction to the

path of a ray through a droplet. Because
the droplet is assumed to be spherical all
directions are equivalent and there is
only one significant variable: the dis
placement of the incident ray from an
axis passing through the center of the
droplet. That displacement is called the
impact parameter. It ranges from zerO.
when the ray coincides with the central
axis. to the radius of the droplet. when
the ray is tangential.
At the surface of the droplet the inci
dent ray is partially reflected. and this
reflected light we shall identify as the
scattered rays of Class 1. The remaining
light is transmitted into the droplet (with
a change in direction caused by refrac
tion) and at the next surface is again
partially transmitted (rays of Class 2)
and partially reflected. At the next
boundary the reflected ray is again split
into reflected and transmitted compo
nents. and the process continues indefi
nitely. Thus the droplet gives rise to a
series of scattered rays. usually with
rapidly decreasing intensity. Rays of
Class 1 represent direct reflection by the
droplet and those of Class 2 are directly
transmitted through it. Rays of Class 3
are those that escape the droplet after
one internal reflection. and they make
up the primary rainbow. The Class 4
rays. having undergone two internal re-

flections. give rise to the secondary bow.

Rainbows of higher order are formed by
rays making more complicated pas
sages. but they are not ordinarily visible.
For each class of scattered rays the
scattering angle varies over a wide range
of values as a function of the impact
parameter. Since in sunlight the droplet
is illuminated at all impact parameters
simultaneously. light is scattered in vir
tually all-directions. It is not difficult to
find light paths through the droplet that
contribute to the rainbow. but there are
infinitely many other paths that direct
the light elsewhere. Why. then. is the
scattered intensity enhanced in the vi
cinity of the rainbow angle? It is a ques
tion Theodoric did not consider; an an
swer was first provided by Descartes.
By applying the laws of reflection and
refraction at each point where a ray
strikes an air-water boundary. Des
cartes painstakingly computed the paths
of many rays incident at many impact
parameters. The rays of Class 3 are of
predominating importance. When the
impact parameter is zero. these rays are
scattered through an angle of 180 de
grees. that is. they are backscattered
toward the sun. having passed through
the center of the droplet and been re
flected from the far wall. As the impact
parameter increases and the incident
rays are displaced from the center of the
droplet. the scattering angle decreases.
Descartes found. however. that this
trend does not continue as the impact
parameter is increased to its maximum
value. where the incident ray grazes the
droplet at a tangent to its surface. In
stead the scattering angle passes through
a minimum when the impact parameter
is about seven-eighths of the radius of
the droplet. and thereafter it increases
again. The scattering angle at the mini
mum is 138 degrees.
For rays of Class 4 the scattering an
gle is zero when the impact parameter
is zero; in other words. the central ray
is reflected twice. then continues in its
original direction. As the impact param
eter increases so does the scattering an
gle. but again the trend is eventually re
versed. this time at 130 degrees. The
Class 4 rays have a maximum scattering
angle of 130 degrees. and as the impact
parameter is further increased they bend
back toward the forward scattering di
rection again.

mum scattering angles. and so the spe

cial status of the primary and secondary
rainbow angles is explained. Further
more. since no rays of Class 3 or Class 4
are scattered into the angular region be
tween 130 and 138 degrees. Alexander's
dark band is also explained.
Descartes's theory can be seen more
clearly by considering an imaginary
population of droplets from which light
is somehow scattered with uniform in
tensity in all directions. A sky filled with
such droplets would be uniformly bright
at all angles. In a sky filled with real
water droplets the same total illumina
tion is available. but it is redistributed.
Most parts of the sky are dimmer than
they would be with uniform scattering.
but in the vicinity of the rainbow angle
there is a bright arc. tapering off gradu
ally on the lighted side and more sharply
on the dark side. The secondary bow is a
similar intensity highlight. except that it
is narrower and all its features are dim
mer. In the Cartesian theory the region
between the bows is distinctly darker
than the sky elsewhere; if only rays of
Class 3 and Class 4 existed. it would be
quite black.
The Cartesian rainbow is a remark-

o far we have ignored one of the most

conspicuous features of the rain
bow: its colors. They were explained. of
course. by Newton. in his prism experi
ments of 1666. Those experiments dem
onstrated not only that white light is a
mixture of colors but also that the re
fractive index is different for each color.
the effect called dispersion. It follows
that each color or wavelength of light
must have its own rainbow angle; what
we observe in nature is a collection of
monochromatic rainbows. each one
slightly displaced from the next.
From his measurements of the refrac
tive index Newton calculated that the

----

IMPACT
PARAMETER

ecause a droplet in sunlight is uni

formly illuminated the impact pa
rameters of the incident rays are uni
formly distributed. The concentration
of scattered light is therefore expected
to be greatest where the scattering angle
varies most slowly with changes in the
impact parameter. In other words. the
scattered light is brightest where it gath
ers together the incident rays from the
largest range of impact parameters. The
regions of minimum variation are those
surrounding the maximum and mini-

ably simple phenomenon. Brightness is

a function of the rate at which the scat
tering angle changes. That angle is itself
determined by just two factors: the re
fractive index. which is assumed to be
constant. and the impact parameter.
which is assumed to be uniformly dis
tributed. One factor that has no influ
ence at all on the rainbow angle is size:
the geometry of scattering is the same
for small cloud droplets and for the
large water-filled globes employed by
Theodoric and Descartes.

WATER DROPLET

CLASS

PATH OF LIGHT through a droplet can be determined by applying the laws of geometrical
optics. Each time the beam strikes the surface part of the light is reflected and part is refracted.
Rays reflected directly from the surface are labeled rays of Class 1; those transmitted directly
through the droplet are designated Class

2.

The Class 3 rays emerge after one internal reflec

tion; it is these that give rise to the primary rainbow. The secondary bow is made up of Class

rays, which have undergone two internal reflections. For rays of each class only one factor

determines the value of the scattering angle. That factor is the impact parameter: the dis
placement of the incident ray from an axis that passes through the center of the droplet.

19
1977 SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN, INC

rainbow angle is 137 degrees 58 minutes

for red light and 139 degrees 43 minutes
for violet light. The difference between
these angles is one degree 45 minutes.
which would be the width of the rain
bow if the rays of incident sunlight were
exactly parallel. Allowing half a degree
for the apparent diameter of the sun.
Newton obtained a total width of two
degrees 15 minutes for the primary bow.
His own observations were in good
agreement with this result.
Descartes and Newton between them
were able to account for all the more
conspicuous features of the rainbow.
They explained the existence of primary
and secondary bows and of the dark
band that separates them. They calcu
lated the angular positions of these fea
tures and described the dispersion of the

180
160
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scattered light into a spectrum. All of

this was accomplished with only geo
metrical optics. Their theory neverthe
less had a major failing: it could not
explain the supernumerary arcs. The un
derstanding of these seemingly minor
features requires a more sophisticated
view of the nature of light.
The supernumerary arcs appear on
the inner. or lighted. side of the primary
bow. In this angular region two scat
tered rays of Class 3 emerge in the same
direction; they arise from incident rays
that have impact parameters on each
side of the rainbow value. Thus at any
given angle slightly greater than the
rainbow angle the scattered light in
cludes rays that have followed two dif
ferent paths through the droplet. The
rays emerge at different positions on the

-- -- --

----------------------------------------

--

------

.-

surface of the droplet. but they proceed

in the same direction.
In the time of Descartes and Newton
these two contributions to the scattered
intensity could be handled only by sim
ple addition. As a result the predicted
intensity falls off smoothly with devia
tion from the rainbow angle. with no
trace of supernumerary arcs. Actually
the intensities of the two rays cannot be
added because they are not independent
sources of radiation.
The optical effect underlying the su
pernumerary arcs was discovered in
1 803 by Thomas Young. who showed
that light is capable of interference. a
phenomenon that was already familiar
from the study of water waves. In any
medium the superposition of waves can
lead either to reinforcement (crest on

-------------------

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--

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PRIMARY
RAINBOW
RAY

ALEXANDER'S DARK BAND

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SECONDARY
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RAY

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IMPACT PARAMETER
RAINBOW

AN

DROPLET RADIUS

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GLE can be seen to have a special significance when

the scattering angle is considered as a function of the impact param

eter. When the impact parameter is zero, the scattering angle for a
ray of Class 3 is 180 degrees; the ray passes through the center of the
droplet and is reflected by the far surface straight back at the sun. As
the impact parameter increases, the scattering angle decreases, but
eventually a minimum angle is reached. This ray of minimum deflec
tion is the rainbow ray in the diagram at the left; rays with impact
parameters on each side of it are scattered through larger angles. The
minimum deflection is about 138 degrees, and the greatest concentra
tion of scattered rays is to be found in the vicinity of this angle. The
resulting enhancement in the intensity of the scattered light is per
ceived as the primary rainbow. The secondary bow is formed in a
similar way, except that the scattering angle for the Class

rays of

which it is composed increases to a maximum instead of decreasing

to a minimum. The maximum lies at about 130 degrees. No rays of
Class 3 or Class

can reach angles between 130 degrees and 138 de

grees, explaining the existence of Alexander's dark band. At the left

RAINBOW RAY

two Class 3 rays, with impact parameters on each side of the rain
bow value, emerge at the same scattering angle. It is interference be
tween rays such as these two that gives rise to the supernumerary arcs.

120
1977 SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN, INC

crest) or to cancellation (crest on

trough). Young demonstrated the in
terference of light waves by passing a
single beam of monochromatic light
through two pinholes and observing the
alternating bright and dark "fringes "
produced. It was Young himself who
pointed out the pertinence of his discov
ery to the supernumerary arcs of the
rainbow. The two rays scattered in the
same direction by a raindrop are strictly
analogous to the light passing through
the two pinholes in Young's experiment.
At angles very close to the rainbow an
gle the two paths through the droplet
differ only slightly, and so the two rays
interfere constructively. As the angle in
creases, the two rays follow paths of
substantially different length. When the
difference equals half of the wavelength,
the interference is completely destruc
tive; at still greater angles the beams re
inforce again. The result is a periodic
variation in the intensity of the scattered
light, a series of alternately bright and
dark bands.
Because the scattering angles at which
the interference happens to be construc
tive are determined by the difference be
tween two path lengths, those angles are
affected by the radius of the droplet.
The pattern of the supernumerary arcs
(in contrast to the rainbow angle) is
therefore dependent on droplet size. In
larger drops the difference in path length
increases much more quickly with im
pact parameter than it does in small
droplets. Hence the larger the droplets
are, the narrower the angular separation
between the supernumerary arcs is. The
arcs can rarely be distinguished if the
droplets are larger than about a millime
ter in diameter. The overlapping of col
ors also tends to wash out the arcs. The
size dependence of the supernumeraries
explains why they are easier to see near
the top of the bow: raindrops tend to
grow larger as they fall.

ith Young's interference theory all

the major features of the rainbow
could be explained, at least in a qualita
tive and approximate way. What was
lacking was a quantitative, mathemati
cal theory capable of predicting the in
tensity of the scattered light as a func
tion of droplet size and scattering angle.
Young's explanation of the supernu
merary arcs was based on a wave theory
of light. Paradoxically his predictions
for the other side of the rainbow, for the
region of Alexander's dark band, were
inconsistent with such a theory. The in
terference theory, like the theories of
Descartes and Newton, predicted com
plete darkness in this region, at least
when only rays of Class 3 and Class 4
were considered. Such an abrupt transi
tion, however, is not possible, because
the wave theory of light requires that
sharp boundaries between light and

RAINBOW RAY

CONFLUENCE OF RAYS scattered by a droplet gives rise to caustics, or "burning curves."

A caustic is tbe envelope f a ray system. Of special interest is tbe caustic of Class 3 rays, wbicb
bas two brancbes, a real brancb and a "v

irtu

al" one; tbe latter is formed wben tbe rays are ex

tended backward. Wben tbe rainbow ray is produced in botb directions, it approacbes tbe
brancbes of tbis caustic. A tbeory of tbe rainbow based on tbe analysis of sucb a caustic was
devised by George B. Airy. Having cbosen an initial wave front-a surface perpendicular at
all points to tbe rays of Class 3-Airy was able to determine tbe amplitude distribution in sub
sequent waves. A weakness of tbe tbeory is tbe need to guess tbe amplitudes of tbe initial waves.

shadow be softened by diffraction. The

most familiar manifestation of diffrac
tion is the apparent bending of light or
sound at the edge of an opaque obstacle.
In the rainbow there is no real obstacle,
but the boundary between the primary
bow and the dark band should exhibit
diffraction nonetheless. The treatment
of diffraction is a subtle and difficult
problem in mathematical physics, and
the subsequent development of the theo
ry of the rainbow was stimulated mainly
by efforts to solve it.
In 1835 Richard Potter of the Univer
sity of Cambridge pointed out that the
crossing of various sets of light rays in a
droplet gives rise to caustic curves. A
caustic. or "burning curve, " represents
the envelope of a system of rays and is
always associated with an intensity
highlight. A familiar caustic is the bright

cusp-shaped curve formed in a teacup

when sunlight is reflected from its inner
walls. Caustics, like the rainbow, gener
ally have a lighted side and a dark side;
intensity increases continuously up to
the caustic, then drops abruptly.
Potter showed that the Descartes rain
bow ray-the Class 3 ray of minimum
scattering angle-can be regarded as a
caustic. All the other transmitted rays of
Class 3, when extended to infinity, ap
proach the Descartes ray from the light
ed side; there are no rays of this class on
the dark side. Thus finding the intensity
of the scattered light in a rainbow is sim
ilar to the problem of determining the
intensity distribution in the neighbor
hood of a caustic.
In 1838 an attempt to determine that
distribution was made by Potter's Cam
bridge colleague George B. Airy. His

121
1977 SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN, INC

Airy's calculations were for a mono

chromatic rainbow. In order to apply his
method to a rainbow produced in sun
light one must superpose the Airy pat
terns generated by the various mono
chromatic components. To proceed fur
ther and describe the perceived image of
the rainbow requires a theory of color
vision.
The purity of the rainbow colors is
determined by the extent to which the
component monochromatic rainbows
overlap; that in turn is determined by
the droplet size. Uniformly large drops
(with diameters on the order of a few
millimeters) generally give bright rain
bows with pure colors; with very small
droplets (diameters of .01 millimeter or
so) the overlap of colors is so great that
the resulting light appears to be almost
white.

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z

An important property of light that we

have so far ignored is its state of
polarization. Light is a transverse wave.
that is. one in which the oscillations are
perpendicular to the direction of propa
gation. (Sound. on the other hand. is a
longitudinal vibration.) The orientation
of the transverse oscillation can be re
solved into components along two mu
tually perpendicular axes. Any light ray
can be described in terms of these two
independent states of linear polariza
tion. Sunlight is an incoherent mixture
of the two in equal proportions; it is of
ten said to be randomly polarized or
simply unpolarized. Reflection can alter
its state of polarization. and in that fact
lies the importance of polarization to
the analysis of the rainbow.
Let us consider the reflection of a light
ray traveling inside a water droplet
when it reaches the boundary of the
droplet. The plane of reflection. the
plane that contains both the incident
and the reflected rays. provides a conve
nient geometric reference. The polariza
tion states of the incident light can be
defined as being parallel to that plane
and perpendicular to it. For both polari
zations the reflectivity of the surface is
slight at angles of incidence near the per
pendicular. and it rises very steeply near
a critical angle whose value is deter
mined by the index of refraction. Be
yond that critical angle the ray is totally
reflected. regardless of polarization. At
intermediate angles. however. reflectivi
ty depends on polarization. As the angle
of incidence becomes shallower a stead
ily larger portion of the perpendicularly
polarized component is reflected. For
the parallel component. on the other
hand. reflectivity falls before it begins to
increase. At one angle in particular. re
flectivity for the parallel-polarized wave
vanishes entirely; that wave is totally
transmitted. Hence for sunlight incident
at that angle the internally reflected ray
is completely polarized perpendicular

I\.

DARK BAND

I ARST SUPERNUME RARY I

PRIMARY BOW
SCATIERING ANGLE

PREDICTED INTENSITY as a function of scattering angle is compared for three early theo

ries
to
17th

of the rainbow. In the geometric analysis of Descartes, intensity is infinite at the rainbow

angle; it declines smoothly (without supernumerary arcs) on the lighted side and falls off
abruptly to zero on the dark side. The theory of Thomas Young, which is based on the interfer
ence of light waves, predicts supernumerary arcs but retains the sharp transition from infinite
zero intensity. Airy's theory relocates the peaks in the intensity curve and for the first time

provides (through diffraction) an explanation for gradual fading of the rainbow into shadow.

reasoning was based on a principle of

wave propagation formulated in the
century by Christiaan Huygens and
later elaborated by Augustin Jean Fres
nel. This principle regards every point
of a wave front as being a source of
secondary spherical waves; the second
ary waves define a new wave front and
hence describe the propagation of the
wave. It follows that if one knew the
amplitudes of the waves over any one
complete wave front. the amplitude dis
tribution at any other point could be re
constructed. The entire rainbow could
be described rigorously if we knew the
amplitude distribution along a wave
front in a single droplet. Unfortunately
the amplitude distribution can seldom
be determined; all one can usually do is
make a reasonable guess for some cho
sen wave front in the hope that it will
lead to a good approximation.
The starting wave front chosen by
Airy is a surface inside the droplet. nor
mal to all the rays of Class 3 and with an
inflection point (a change in the sense of
. curvature) where it intersects the Des
cartes rainbow ray. The wave ampli
tudes along this wave front were esti
mated through standard assumptions in
theory of diffraction. Airy was then
able to express the intensity of the scat-

the
12

tered light in the rainbow region in

terms of a new mathematical function.
then known as the rainbow integral and
today called the Airy function. The
mathematical form of the Airy function
will not concern us here; we shall con
centrate instead on its physical meaning.
The intensity distribution predicted
by the Airy function is analogous to the
diffraction pattern appearing in the
shadow of a straight edge. On the light
ed side of the primary bow there are
oscillations in intensity that correspond
to the supernumerary arcs; the positions
and widths of these peaks differ some
what from those predicted by the Young
interference theory. Another significant
distinction of the Airy theory is that the
maximum intensity of the rainbow falls
at an angle somewhat greater than the
Descartes minimum scattering angle.
The Descartes and Young theories pre
dict an infinite intensity at that angle (be
cause of the caustic). The Airy theory
does not reach an infinite intensity at
any point. and at the Descartes rainbow
ray the intensity predicted is less than
half the maximum. Finally. diffraction
effects appear on the dark side of the
rainbow: instead of vanishing abruptly
the intensity tapers away smoothly with
in Alexander's dark band.

1977 SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN, INC

to the plane of reflection. The angle is

called Brewster's angle, after David
Brewster, who discussed its significance
in 1815.
Light from the rainbow is almost
completely polarized, as can be seen
by looking at a rainbow through Polar
oid sunglasses and rotating the lenses
around the line of sight. The strong po
larization results from a remarkable co
incidence: the internal angle of inci
dence for the rainbow ray is very close
to Brewster's angle. Most of the parallel
component escapes in the transmitted
rays of Class 2, leaving a preponderance
of perpendicular rays in the rainbow.

ith the understanding that both

matter and radiation can behave
as waves, the theory of the rainbow has
been enlarged in scope. It must now en
compass new, invisible rainbows pro
duced in atomic and nuclear scattering.
An analogy between geometrical op
tics and classical particle mechanics had
already been perceived in 1831 by Wil
liam Rowan Hamilton, the Irish mathe
matician. The analogues of rays in geo
metrical optics are particle trajectories,
and the bending of a light ray on enter
ing a medium with a different refractive
index corresponds to the deflection of a
moving particle under the action of a
force. Particle-scattering analogues ex
ist for many effects in optics, including
the rainbow.
Consider a collision between two at
oms in a gas. As the atoms approach
from a large initial separation, they are
at first subject to a steadily increasing
attraction. At closer range, however, the
electron shells of the atoms begin to in
terpenetrate and the attractive force di
minishes. At very close range it becomes
an increasingly strong repulsion.
As in the optical experiment, the
atomic scattering can be analyzed by
tracing the paths of the atoms as a func
tion of the impact parameter. Because
the forces vary gradually and continu
ously, the atoms follow curved trajecto
ries instead of changing direction sud
denly, as at the boundary between me
dia of differing refractive index. Even
though some of the trajectories are rath
er complicated, each impact parameter
corresponds to a single deflection angle;
moreover, there is one trajectory that
represents a local maximum angular de
flection. That trajectory turns out to be
the one that makes the most effective use
of the attractive interaction between
atoms. A strong concentration of scat
tered particles is expected near this an
gle; it is the rainbow angle for the inter
acting atoms.
A wave-mechanical treatment of the
atomic and nuclear rainbows was for
mulated in 1959 by Kenneth W. Ford of
Brandeis University and John A. Whee
ler of Princeton University. Interference

between trajectories emerging in the

same direction gives rise to supernumer
ary peaks in intensity. A particle-scatter
ing analogue of Airy's theory has also
been derived.
An atomic rainbow was first observed
in 1964, by E. Hundhausen and H. Pau
ly of the University of Bonn, in the scat-

10
90
80
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30
20
10
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tering of sodium atoms by mercury at

oms. The main rainbow peak and two
supernumeraries were detected; in more
recent experiments oscillations on an
even finer scale have been observed. The
rainbows measured in these experi
ments carry information about the inter
atomic forces. Just as the optical rain-

TOTAL INTERNAL REFLECTION

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AI R

EVANESCENT
WAVE

POLARIZATION OF THE RAINBOW results from differential reflection. An incident ray

can be resolved into two components polarized parallel to and perpendicular to the plane of
reflection. For a ray approaching an air-water bouudary from inside a droplet the reflectivity
of the surface depends ou the angle of incidence. Beyond a critical angle both parallel and per
pendicular components are totally reflected, although some light travels parallel to the surface
as an "evanescent wave." At lesser angles the perpendicular component is reflected more effi
ciently than the parallel one, and at one augle in particular, Brewster's angle, parallel-polarized
light is completely transmitted. The angle of internal reflection for the rainbow ray falls near
Brewster's angle. As a result light from the rainbow has a strong perpendicular polarization.

123
1977 SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN, INC

bow angle depends solely on the refrac

tive index, so the atomic rainbow angle
is determined by the strength of the at
tractive part of the interaction. Similar
ly, the positions of the supernumerary
peaks are size-dependent, and they pro
vide information about the range of the
interaction. Observations of the same
kind have now been made in the scatter
ing of atomic nuclei.
RAINBOW
TRAJECTORY

he Airy theory of the rainbow has

T had
many satisfying successes, but it

SCATTERING OF ATOMS BY ATOMS creates a particulate rainbow. The role played in

optical scattering by the refractive index is played here by interatomic forces. The principal dif
ference is that the forces vary smoothly and continuously, so that the atoms follow curved

As
shading). (colored shading),
trajectories.

one atom approaches another the force between them is initially a steadily

growing attraction

but at close range it becomes strongly repulsive

(gray

A local maximum in the scattering angle corresponds to the optical rainbow angle. It

is the angle made by the trajectory most effective in using the attractive part of the potential.

(f)
::2:

PRIMARY
RAINBOW

o
UJ
a:
UJ

1=

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LL
o
a:
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z

o 5 10 15 20 25 30 35
124
SCATTERING ANGLE (DEGREES)

ATOMIC RAINBOW was detected by E. Hundhausen and H. Pauly of the University of Bonn

in the scattering of sodium atoms by mercury atoms. The oscillations in the number of scattered

atoms detected correspond to a primary rainbow and to two supernumerary peaks. A rainbow
of this kind embodies information about the strength and range of the interatomic forces.

1977 SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN, INC

contains one disturbing uncertainty: the

need to guess the amplitude distribution
along the chosen initial wave front. The
assumptions employed in making that
guess are plausible only for rather large
raindrops. In this context size is best ex
pressed in terms of a "size parameter,"
defined as the ratio of a droplet's cir
cumference to the wavelength of the
light. The size parameter varies from
about 1 00 in fog or mist to several thou
sand for large raindrops. Airy's approxi
mation is plausible only for drops with a
size parameter greater than about 5,000.
It is ironic that a problem as intracta
ble as the rainbow actually has an exact
solution, and one that has been known
for many years. As soon as the electro
magnetic theory of light was proposed
by James Clerk Maxwell about a centu
ry ago, it became possible to give a pre
cise mathematical formulation of the
optical rainbow problem.
at is need
ed is a computation of the scattering of
an electromagnetic plane wave by a ho
mogeneous sphere. The solution to a
similar but slightly easier problem, the
scattering of sound waves by a sphere,
was discussed by several investigators,
notably Lord Rayleigh, in the 1 9th cen
tury. The solution they obtained consist
ed of an infinite series of terms, called
partial waves. A solution of the same
form was found for the electromagnetic
problem in 1 908 by Gustav Mie and Pe
ter J. W. Debye.
Given the existence of an exact solu
tion to the scattering problem, it might
seem an easy matter to determine all its
features, including the precise character
of the rainbow. The problem, of course.
is the need to sum the series of partial
waves, each term of which is a rather
complicated function. The series can be
truncated to give an approximate solu
tion, but this procedure is practical only
in some cases. The number of terms that
must be retained is of the same order of
magnitude as the size parameter. The
partial-wave series is therefore eminent
ly suited to the treatment of Rayleigh
scattering, which is responsible for the
blue of the sky; in that case the scatter
ing particles are molecules and are
much smaller than the wavelength, so
that one term of the series is enough. For
the rainbow problem size parameters up
to several thousand must be considered.

Wh

A good approximation to the solution

by the partial-wave method would re
quire evaluating the sum of several
thousand complicated terms. Comput
ers have been applied to the task. but the
results are rapidly varying functions of
the size parameter and the scattering an
gIe. so that the labor and cost quickly
become prohibitive. Besides. a comput
er can only calculate numerical solu
tions; it offers no insight into the physics
of the rainbow. We are thus in the tanta
lizing situation of knowing a form of the
exact solution and yet being unable to
extract from it an understanding of the
phenomena it describes.
first steps toward the resolution
T ofhe this
paradox were taken in the

early years of the 20th century by the

mathematicians Henri Poincare and G.
N. Watson. They found a method for
transforming the partial, wave series.
which converges only very slowly onto a
stable value. into a rapidly convergent
expression. The technique has come to
be known as the Watson transformation
or as the complex-angular-momentum
method.
It is not particularly hard to see why
angular momentum is involved in the
rainbow problem. although it is less ob
vious why "complex" values of the an
gular momentum need to be considered.
The explanation is simplest in a corpus
cular theory of light. in which a beam of
light is regarded as a stream of the parti
cles called photons. Even though the
photon has no mass. it does transport
energy and momentum in inverse pro
portion to the wavelength of the corre
sponding light wave. When a photon
strikes a water droplet with some impact
parameter greater than zero. the photon
carries an angular momentum equal to
the product of its linear momentum and
the impact parameter. As the photon
undergoes a series of internal reflec
tions. it is effectively orbiting the center
of the droplet. Actually quantum me
chanics places additional constraints on
this process. On the one hand it requires
that the angular momentum assume
only certain discrete values; on the other
it denies that the impact parameter can
be precisely determined. Each discrete
value of angular momentum corre
sponds to one term in the partial-wave
series.
In order to perform the Watson trans
formation. values of the angular mo
mentum that are conventionally regard
ed as being "unphysical " must be intro
duced. For one thing the angular mo
mentum must be allowed to vary contin
uously. instead of in quantized units;
more important. it must be allowed to
range over the complex numbers: those
that include both a real component and
an imaginary one. containing some mul
tiple of the square root of - 1 . The

plane defined by these two components

is referred to as the complex-angular
momentum plane.
Much is gained in return for the math
ematical abstractions of the complex
angular-momentum method. In particu
lar. after going over to the complex
angular-momentum plane through the
Watson transformation. the contribu
tions to the partial-wave series can be
redistributed. Instead of a great many
terms. one can work with just a few
points called poles and saddle points in
the complex-angular-momentum plane.
In recent years the poles have attracted
great theoretical interest in the physics
of elementary particles. In that context
they are usually called Regge poles. af
ter the Italian physicist Tullio Regge.

oth poles and saddle points have

physical interpretations in the rain
bow problem. Contributions from real
saddle points are associated with the or
dinary. real light rays we have been con
sidering throughout this article. What
about complex saddle points? Imagi
nary or complex numbers are ordinarily
regarded as being unphysical solutions
to an equation. but they are not mean
ingless solutions. In descriptions of
wave propagation imaginary compo
nents are usually associated with the
damping of the wave amplitude. For ex
ample. in the total internal reflection of
a light ray at a water-air boundary a

SURFACE
WAVE

INCIDENT RAY

IMPACT
PARAMETER
EQUAL TO
DROPLET

light wave does go "through the looking

glass." Its amplitude is rapidly damped.
however. so that the intensity becomes
negligible within a depth on the order of
a single wavelength. Such a wave does
not propagate into the air; instead it be
comes attached to the interface between
the water and the air. traveling along the
surface; it is called an evanescent wave.
The mathematical description of the ev
anescent wave involves the imaginary
components of a solution. The effect
called quantum-mechanical tunneling.
in which a particle passes through a po
tential barrier without climbing over it.
has a similar mathematical basis. "Com
plex rays" also appear on the shadow
side of a caustic. where they describe the
damped amplitude of the diffracted
light waves.
Regge-pole contributions to the trans
formed partial-wave series are associat
ed with surface waves of another kind.
These waves are excited by incident rays
that strike the sphere tangentially. Once
such a wave is launched. it travels
around the sphere. but it is continually
damped because it sheds radiation tan
gentially. like a garden sprinkler. At
each point along the wave's circumfer
ential path it also penetrates the sphere
at the critical angle for total internal re
flection. reemerging as a surface wave
after taking one or more such shortcuts.
It is interesting to note that Johannes
Kepler conjectured in 1 584 that "pin-

ACNRGITLICEAL
CRITICAL ANGLE

_ _ _
_
_ ._ _ ___

SURFACE
WAVE

COMPLEX-ANGULAR-MOMENTUM theory of the rainbow begins with the ohservation

that a photon, or quantnm of light, incident on a droplet at some impact parameter (which can
not be exactly defined) carries angular momentnm. In the theory, components of that angular
momentnm are extended to complex values, that is, values containing the square root of -1.
The consequences of this procedure can be illustrated by the example of a ray striking a drop
let tangentially. The ray stimulates surface waves, which travel around the droplet and con
tinuously shed radiation. The ray can also penetrate the droplet at the critical angle for total
internal reflection, emerging either to form another surface wave or to repeat the shortcut.

125
1977 SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN, INC

wheel" rays of this kind might be re

sponsible for the rainbow, but he aban
doned the idea because it did not lead to
the correct rainbow angle.
In 1 937 the Dutch physicists Balthus
Van der Pol and H. Bremmer applied
Watson's transformation to the rainbow
problem, but they were able to show
only that Airy's approximation could be
obtained as a limiting case. In 1 965 I
developed an improved version of Wat
son's method, and I applied it to the
rainbow problem in 1 969 with some
what greater success.

n the simple Cartesian analysis we saw

that on the lighted side of the rain
bow there are two rays emerging in the
same direction; at the rainbow angle
these coalesce into the single Descartes
ray of minimum deflection and on the
shadow side they vanish. In the com
plex-angular-momentum plane, as I
have mentioned, each geometric ray
corresponds to a real saddle point.
Hence in mathematical terms a rainbow
is merely the collision of two saddle

points in the complex-angular-momen

tum plane. In the shadow region beyond
the rainbow angle the saddle points do
not simply disappear; they become
complex, that is, they develop imagi
nary parts. The diffracted light in Alex
ander's dark band arises from a complex
saddle point. It is an example of a "com
plex ray" on the shadow side of a caustic
curve.
It should be noted that the adoption of
the complex-angular-momentum meth
od does not imply that earlier solutions
to the rainbow problem were wrong.
Descartes's explanation of the primary
bow as the ray of minimum deflection is
by no means invalid, and the supernu
merary arcs can still be regarded as a
product of interference, as Young pro
posed. The complex-angular-momen
tum method simply gives a more com
prehensive accounting of the paths
available to a photon in the rainbow re
gion of the sky, and it thereby achieves
more accurate results.
In 1 975 Vijay Khare of the University
of Rochester made a detailed compari-

son of three theories of the rainbow: the

Airy approximation, the "exact" solu
tion, obtained by a computer summa
tion of the partial-wave series, and the
rainbow terms in the complex-angular
momentum method, associated with the
collision of two saddle points. For the
dominant, perpendicular polarization
the Airy theory requires only small cor
rections within the primary bow, and its
errors become appreciable only in the
region of the supernumerary arcs. For
the scattered rays polarized parallel to
the scattering plane, however, Airy's ap
proximation fails badly. For the super
numerary arcs the exact solution shows
minima where the Airy theory has maxi
mum intensity, and vice versa. This seri
ous failure is an indirect result of the
near coincidence between the angle of
internal reflection for the rainbow rays
and Brewster's angle. At Brewster's an
gie the amplitude of the reflected ray
changes sign, a change the Airy theory
does not take into account. As a result of
the change in sign the interference along
directions corresponding to the peaks in

f
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COMPLEX
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THEORY

AIRY
THEORY -

139

140

141

142

SCATTERING ANGLE (DEGREES)

QUANTITATIVE THEORIES of tbe rainbow predict tbe intensity

cated terms for eacb point employed in plotting tbe curve. Tbe Airy

of tbe scattered Iigbt as a function of tbe scatteriug angle and also

tbeory is clearly in disagreement witb tbe exact solution, particu

witb respect to droplet size and polarization. Here tbe predictions of

larly in tbe angular region of tbe supernumerary arcs. Tbere the exact

tbree tbeories are presented for parallel-polarized Iigbt scattered by

solution sbows trougbs at tbe positions of Airy's peaks. The results

droplets witb a circumference equal to 1,500 wavelengths of tbe Iigbt.

obtained by the complex-angular-momentum metbod, on the otber

One curve represents tbe "exact" solution to tbe rainbow problem,

band, correspond closely to tbe exact solution, failing only to repro

derived from James Clerk Maxwell's equations describing electro

duce small, bigb-frequency oscillations. Tbese 8uctuations are associ

ated witb anotber optical pbenomenon in tbe atmospbere, the glory,

magnetic radiation. The exact solution is tbe sum of an infinite series

of terms, approximated bere by adding up more tban 1,500 compli-

wbicb is also explained by tbe complex-angular-momentum tbeory.

126
1977 SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN, INC

the Airy solutions is destructive instead

of constructive.
In terms of large-scale features, such
as the primary bow, the supernumerary
arcs and the dark-side diffraction pat
tern, the complex-angular-momentum
result agrees quite closely with the exact
solution. Smaller-scale fluctuations in
the exact intensity curve are not repro
duced as well by the rainbow terms in
the complex-angular-momentum meth
od. On the other hand, the exact solu
tion, for a typical size parameter of
1 ,500, requires the summation of more
than 1 .500 complicated terms; the com
plex-angular-momentum curve is ob
tained from only a few much simpler
terms.

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he small residual fluctuations in the

exact intensity curve arise from
higher-order internal reflections: rays
belonging to classes higher than Class 3
or Class 4. They are of little importance
for the primary bow, but at larger scat
tering angles their contribution increas
es and near the backward direction it
becomes dominant. There these rays are
responsible for another fascinating me
teorological display: the glory [see "The
Glory, " by Howard C. Bryant and Nel
son Jarmie;
July,
1 974].
The glory appears as a halo of spec
tral colors surrounding the shadow an
observer casts on clouds or fog; it is
most commonly seen from an airplane
flying above clouds. It can also be ex
plained through the complex-angular
momentum theory, but the explanation
is more complicated than that for the
rainbow. One set of contributions to the
glory comes from the surface waves de
scribed by Regge poles that are associat
ed with the tangential rays of Kepler's
pinwheel type. Multiple internal reflec
tions that happen to produce closed,
star-shaped polygons play an important
role, leading to resonances, or enhance
ments in intensity. Such geometric coin
cidences are very much in the spirit of
Kepler's theories.
A second important set of contribu
tions, demonstrated by Khare, is from
the shadow side of higher-order rain
bows that appear near the backward di
rection. These contributions represent
the effect of complex rays. The l Oth
order rainbow, formed only a few de
grees away from the backward direc
tion, is particularly effective.
For the higher-order rainbows Airy's
theory would give incorrect results for
both polarizations, and so the complex
angular-momentum theory must be em
ployed. One might thus say the glory is
formed in part from the shadow of a
rainbow. It is gratifying to discover in
the elegant but seemingly abstract theo
ry of complex angular momentum an
explanation for these two natural phe
nomena, and to find there an unexpected
link between them.

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1977 SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN, INC

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P rojects l i ke SAT I N IV, the new SAC com m u n i cat i o n system u s i n g pac ket sw itch i n g tec h n i q ues.
O r JTIDS, a system w h i c h com b i nes the p ri n c i p l es of TDMA, sp read spectrum mod u l at i o n , e rro r
detect i o n and correct i o n codes and d ata p rocess i n g for better tri -se rvice C3. And there a re sco res of
other p rojects that dai ly c h a l l e n g e o u r
expe r i e n ced staff mem bers , m o re than h a l f of whom h ave
advanced deg rees.

750

1 0 20

As for the envi ro n m e n t , o u r c o m p lex i s s i tuated o n

acres
m i les outside of Bosto n , near
h i sto r i c Lex i ngton and C o n c o rd . H e re at the corporate head q u a rters, o u r staff i s backed - u p by
spec i a l i zed s u p p o rt p rofess i o n a l s . B e i n g in the forefro n t of tec h n o l ogy i s what keeps sharp peo p l e
com i n g to M i t re. I t a l s o keeps t h e m w o rk i n g h e re. I f y o u k n ow the C3 f i e l d , read o n :

COMPUTER SYSTEMS
P rojects span t h e spect rum f rom systems p rog ram m i ng w i t h 370/ 1 58 software t o deve l o p i n g cost models for
standard i zation i n put analyses, software b u i ld i ng block deve lopment, computer performance eval u at i o n , req u i re
ments analysis for i nformat ion p rocess i n g systems, i n te l l i gence d ata hand l i n g , and su bsystem test docu mentat i o n .

COMMUNICATIONS
M aj o r p rog rams are u n d e rway i n system design a n d analys i s , d i g ital rad io com m u n i cat ions, m i c ro p rocesso r
app l ications, d i g ital c i rc u i t development, sate l l ite system s and term i n a l s , hardware and software for com m u n i ca
tions p rocesso rs , anti-j am analys i s , m od u l ation/cod i n g tech n i q ues, sec u re d i g ital and analog com m u n i cat i o n s .
periphera l s . and system test and eva l u at i o n .

COMMAND AND CONTROL

N u m e rous p rojects exist i n a i r defense and tact i c a l a i r control systems e n g i nee r i n g f o r d e p l oyable and fi xed
i n sta l l ation m i l itary systems. These p rojects req u i re top-notch e n g i neers for system analysis and specification ,
software deve lopment. intersystem s eng i neeri n g , s i m u lation and eva l u at i o n , s u rve i l lance system s design and
tact ical control systems eng i neeri n g .

6404
01 7 3 0 . L .
THE
=======
M
C O R ITRE
PORATION

To a p p l y for these career pos i t i o n s , sen d yo u r res u m e , i n c l u d i n g salary h i story , to M r. Dav i d

F i n n eg a n , The M IT R E Corporat i o n ,
M i dd lesex Tu rn p i ke , Bedfo rd , M assac h usetts

Technical excellence through professional challenge

An eq ual opportun ity emp loyer.

128
1977 SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN, INC